Tunisia: thousands protesting against societal reforms

In Tunisia, the report of the Commission for Individual Freedoms and Equality (COLIBE), the presidential commission, continues to be debated.

This 232-page report recommends, among other things, the abolition of the death penalty, the decriminalization of homosexuality and the equality of men and women in inheritance.

These proposals hurt some Tunisians, who consider them contrary to Islam.

Saturday, August 11, the National Coordination to defend the Koran and the Constitution has organized a major event in the capital.

This, two days before August 13, “feast of women” in Tunisia and a speech by the President of the Republic who should propose bills inspired by the report COLIBE.

Thousands of people protested on the Bardo Square in front of Parliament in Tunis, despite the overwhelming sun, many men, but also women were present on this Saturday.

Like Leila, a housewife in her fifties, who came with her 24-year-old daughter. Fiercely opposed to equality in inheritance, she explains having “learned a little on Facebook and in the press”.

If she admits she did not “read the whole report”, she “does not accept it”:
“Our Qur’an is our law. That’s all.”

A little further, Mondher, read the entire text. He finds “points that can be discussed”. He is even in favor of certain proposals such as the abolition of the death penalty. But he considers that “the majority is to be excluded”. He is particularly against decriminalization homosexuality or equality of inheritance. “It is an attack on Islam, we are against the violation of the Koran, our Koranic texts. It shocks me, and it almost shocked the majority of Muslims, not to mention all Muslims in Tunisia,” says one of the retired executive.

Defenders of the COLIBE, they put forward the principle of equality between citizens guaranteed by the new Constitution of 2014. According to them, this principle must now be reflected in the laws. They will demonstrate on August 13, after the highly anticipated speech of the President of the Republic.